290 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol XV. 



many laurels. Fruits globose, f inch in diameter, black with a grape- 

 like bloom, pulp scanty and dark green, greedily eaten by crows, 

 There are two forms of this tree : one with smaller, rather coriaceous 

 leaveSj the other with larger, more membraneous leaves. 



Thymelace^e. 



Lasiosiphon eriocephalus, Dene. Rameta. 



A willow-like shrub or tree, very ornamental with its balls of bright 

 yellow flowers. 



El^eagnace^e. 



Elgeagnus latifolia, Linn. Amguli. 



A climber, becoming very large ; branches often spiny. The scales 

 on the leaves form most beautiful microscopic objects. The acid fruits 

 which are also covered with these scales, are eaten. 



LiORANTHACEjE. 



Loranthus longiflorus, Desrouss. Wanda,, 



Very common, especially on Mango. 



Loranthus loniceroides, Linn. 



Almost equally common. 



Viscum capitellatum, Sm. 



A dwarf, leafy shrub, parasitic on other members of Loranthacese^ 

 The two first-named parasites are particularly common wherever there 

 are Mango trees. Jambul, Guriimb, Anjan and Uduli and all the 

 figs, except the Pipra, remain free from their attacks. They often form 

 very large masses, their sucker roots intercepting all the nutriment of 

 the support, so that the parts beyond them quickly die. In addition 

 to the suckers first produced, they throw back runners for some distance 

 along the branches and stems of their victims, and these runners drive 

 in a close array of suckers. From the fact that these parasites bear 

 foliage of their own, we may infer that the nutriment drawn from the 

 tissues of the host requires further elaboration before being of service 

 to themselves. The leafless species of Viscum or Mistletoe have sunk to 

 a greater depth of degradation, as some of their members are merely 

 bundles of jointed branches (phylloclade or not in their function) with 

 unisexual flowers of simple design. One — Viscum capitellatum — has 

 leaves and it is actually parasitic on its own relations ! 



On Sakar Pathar I found Memecylon edule (Anjan) infested 

 with a form of Loranthus cuneatus, the leaves of which in appearance 

 almost exactly simulated those of its host. (This may bear the name, 

 variety decipiens.) On one plant of Pisa (Actinodaphne Hookeri) I found 



